Results - Tribology

Development of a composite hydrogel brain tissue
phantom and high resolution finite element models of brain
shift and indentation

The group led by Dr.
Dini at Imperial College has carried out different tests
to identify the mechanical characteristics of the brain
tissue (including porcine and human samples). The results
led to the development of a novel composite hydrogel
suitable for mimicking the mechanical the brain shift
phenomenon and indentation procedures in a range of
velocities spanning two orders of magnitude. With the same
information, a new constitutive formulation to model
tissue response has been implemented in state-of-the-art
high resolution finite element model and used for brain
shift and indentation simulations. A realistic life size
brain phantom and a skull mock-up have also been produced
and used in the context of the ACTIVE setup for testing,
demonstration and model validation purposes. Development
of a composite hydrogel brain tissue phantom and high
resolution finite element models of brain shift and
indentation